Discovering Alicante Old Town: A Couple of Days as a Single Female Traveller

On September 7, 2024September 11, 2024 By Laura Ferries WriterIn solo female travel, spain3 Comments

I had only ever passed through Alicante once when I landed into the airport then caught a coach to Benidorm back in 2015. I saw nothing of Alicante and despite the fact the Costa Blanca has lovely, soft-sand beaches, I had no inclination to holiday there.

However, earlier this year, my cousin Luke and I were watching food tour videos on YouTube and the end of one rolled into the start of another which happened to be Alicante. Interesting, I thought. I had never heard much heard about Alicante’s food nor any buzz surrounding its culinary scene, despite having lived in Spain (albeit much further south, in Andalusia) for 3.5 years.

We watched as the video host narrated and ate his way through various stalls in the Mercat Central d’Alacant and other quaint wine bars and restaurants in the old town.

On that drizzly spring afternoon in the north of England, my interest was piqued.

I had been loosely planning a summer trip through certain parts of Spain and I knew I wanted to spend a few days alone near the beach with free time to read and write so I looked into Alicante Old Town, preferring a quieter location and not a typical ‘Brit-abroad’ location with full English breakfasts and karaoke bars. A quick Google and I was convinced, it looked surprisingly stunning. Pardon my prior ignorance.

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Travelling Through Time with Wine: Unforgettable Wines from Around the World

On April 8, 2024July 15, 2024 By Laura Ferries WriterIn wine2 Comments

“Wine is bottled poetry.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson

I am no wine expert. I don’t know a lot of the correct language to use when writing about wine. I just enjoy the journey of sampling varieties of wines from around the world like a magical mystery tour.

In place of sommelier vocabulary, I am going to write brashly and humbly about wines I have tried in recent years that have stayed with me for some reason, whether through taste, setting, company or experience.

I remember the first time I tasted red wine, when a bottle was placed on the table at my Year 11 prom and had one sip and declared it tasted like vinegar and wondered, how could anybody possibly like this?

Around my 21st birthday, a friend and I went to London and she bought me a glass of wine from the hotel bar. I felt grateful but guilty and couldn’t tell her I didn’t like it, but drank it anyway. She bought a few more, and I thought it wasn’t too bad by the end of the night.

I’ve loved to travel since I was 18 and I believe that the best way to sample a culture is through food and drink (not just alcoholic drinks; Moroccan mint tea, Italian espresso, freshly squeezed Seville orange juice and more are also delightful).

For me, tasting wine is a form of travelling. Opening a bottle from Chile from 2019, or a 2017 Chianti, or a 2020 Bulgarian, for example, is both a geographical travel and a time travel.

Here, I’d like to share some of these travels from wines that have stood out to me over the years. Reasons for my choices below vary from being because I loved the taste, to the memorable event I tried it, the beauty of the location, the life stage I was in, or a particular memory I have attached to the sensory experience.

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Christmas Time in Budapest: Tracing Family Roots Alongside Food and Wine

On December 30, 2023September 15, 2024 By Laura Ferries WriterIn europe, Hungary2 Comments

A blog post that focuses mainly on the food and wines my cousin Luke and I had on our mid-December trip to Budapest, Hungary!

I had been to Budapest twice before way back in 2007 and 2008 before you could get a direct flight there from the north-west of England (I’d connected in Prague and Zurich). I had enjoyed the cultural experience of seeing where my heritage came from but I must admit that I did not find the city easily navigable and it was hard to seek out places and activities without Smart Phones with Google Maps and taxi apps (Budapest now uses Bolt rather than Uber as of 2023).

In June this year, our grandad János passed away just before he turned 93 after a long and illustrious life. He was born in 1930 and raised on Csepel Sziget (Island), an area just north of Budapest but still within the capital city borders, neither on Buda nor Pest.

His passing this summer reignited curiosity and a thirst for knowledge in us all so it made total sense for my cousin Luke and I to head over at the start of our Christmas holidays. But would it be too cold? This was a main concern. Would it look pretty when the trees are bare? Would there be enough to see to do?

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Discover the Vibrant Boa Vista, Cape Verde: A Travel Guide

On October 14, 2023July 15, 2024 By Laura Ferries WriterIn Africa, beaches1 Comment

Seeking a stress-free holiday after a busy few months of job changes and exams, we decided to look for a holiday destination where we could just sit back and relax in a beautiful environment for once, rather than a busy week of hopping on trains and clocking up thousands of steps round city streets. I have been to beaches in recent years, of course, but I had not had this sort of all-inclusive holiday for a decade.

Where is Cape Verde and what is its history?

The ten Cape Verde volcanic islands form an archipelago in Western Africa and its official country name is the Republic of Cabo Verde. ‘Cabo’ means the end of something and ‘Verde’ means green, so these islands are named after the green ending/edge.

Praia on the island of Santiago is the capital city and the two most touristic islands are Boa Vista and Sal. Cesária Évora, the celebrated Morna singer, was from São Vicente island, and 93% of the country’s population live on Mindelo island.

Fogo is the only island that produces its own wine, with grapes grown on the Pico do Fogo active volcano. I bought a bottle from the hotel shop and brought it back to share with my cousin in the northeast of England and it was delightful; a rich smoky red.

*Red wine from the volcanic island of Fogo*

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A Weekend of Wine and Wonders: Exploring the Charms of Warsaw

On June 7, 2023July 15, 2024 By Laura Ferries WriterIn Poland, wine2 Comments

{Apologies for the quality of some of the pictures in this blog entry; my phone camera was cracked and only worked when zoomed out! I have a shiny new phone now!)

The King-to-be announced another British bank holiday for his coronation and immediately, my sister, cousin and I jumped at the chance for another whirl on Ryanair Roulette.

I pretty much did this when I ended up in Vienna in February, and we did it again for the May 2023 bank holiday, opting for the Polish capital of Warsaw.

My sister’s boss and my cousin’s friend are both from Poland and had both long espoused the coolness and culinary pleasures of Warszawa, so I was more than happy to book on and see what was in store!

After a rubbery, stale cheese baguette at a hen-party animated Manchester airport terminal 3, we ascended into aerospace and gabbed between ourselves until we drifted down into Warsaw airport where the staff barely even glanced at our passports, stock British smiles plastered across our tired faces as we passed the Polish frontier.

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